Current Legal News

Stay current with legal news in Tennessee. This page features the latest news for and about the Tennessee legal community, either produced by the Tennessee Bar Association or collected from news sources.

Nashville Mayor Karl Dean will become a distinguished visiting professor at Belmont University after he leaves office in late September, he announced today. The mayor told reporters he has no specifics set in stone in terms of the coursework he will teach, but said it would likely focus on American politics, city government and current events. Dean previously served as a law professor at Vanderbilt University School of Law. The Nashville Business Journal has more.

After a decisive win in the 2014 primary, Steve Crump planned to take office as District Attorney General for the 10th Judicial District on Sept.1, serving the residents of Bradley, McMinn, Monroe and Polk counties. But when the holder of the office at the time, Steve Bebb, decided to take early retirement, Gov. Bill Haslam appointed Crump to take the office two months early. Crump reflects back on his first year in the first of a four part series in the Cleveland Daily Banner.

Pope Francis’ historic address to a joint meeting of Congress on Sept. 24 will be broadcast live from the West Front, allowing the public in the shadow of the Capitol to watch along with those in the House chamber, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said today. The speech will mark the first time the head of the world's Roman Catholics addresses Congress, WRCB reports from the Associated Press.

The fourth Family Justice Center in Tennessee opened today in Chattanooga. The new center, which will be located at 5741 Cornelison Road at Eastgate, will help bring together separate groups under one roof that are already working together to serve victims of domestic violence. The Chattanoogan has more.

Chattanooga attorney Terrance L. Olsen will give I-9 Employment presentations in Nashville on Aug. 4, in Chattanooga in late September and in Lexington, Kentucky, in early November. The presentations will address how to understand, apply and adhere to an I-9 compliance system; how to develop, install and maintain a self-audit system; and how to be aware of, communicate through and comply with federal & state I-9 penalties and punishments, the Chattanoogan reports.

Law firm mergers are taking place at a record rate, according to a survey by Altman Weil Inc. A total of 19 were announced in the U.S. during the second quarter of 2015. Add that to those announced in the first quarter of the year, and the total rises to 48, the highest in the nine years that the Pennsylvania-based legal consultant has been compiling the law firm M&A list. The ABA Journal has the story.

After more than a year of delays, a trial challenging Tennessee’s method of executing prisoners via lethal injection got underway in Nashville today, the Associated Press reports. During opening statements, lawyers for 33 death row inmates argued that the state’s use of prison guards to inject the drugs creates a substantial risk they will be administered incorrectly and cause extreme pain. The state countered that the U.S. Supreme Court has already said inmates are not guaranteed a painless death. Memphis Daily News has the story.

In a required third vote, South Carolina’s state senators voted 36-3 today to remove the Confederate battle flag from its prominent place on the Statehouse grounds. The House will now take up the issue, perhaps as early as Wednesday, National Public Radio reports. News reports today indicated that a number of lawmakers may offer proposals to replace the flag with different banners, but the House majority leader said he did not know whether any of them had enough support to pass.

State Rep. Martin Daniel, R-Knoxville, is calling for a refund of most of the $46,000 the state paid for a new logo, saying the design company failed to comply with outsourcing rules and was “substantially over compensated.” Knoxnews reports that Daniel wrote to executives of GS&F, the Nashville advertising firm that developed the logo, to complain about the nature of the final product, the fact that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected trademark protection for the logo and widespread public discontent with the mark.

Tennessee House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick tells the Chattanooga Times Free Press that he plans to slow the effort to remove a bust of Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest from the Tennessee capitol so “a calmer discussion” can take place. McCormick said he still favors removing the statue and intends to talk about it when the State Capitol Commission meets July 17 but that recent “hysteria” over Confederate symbols needs to be replaced with “a calm, reasonable discussion.”

The 14 suspects accused of being involved in a criminal conspiracy that led to the fungal meningitis outbreak are scheduled to go to trial on April 4, 2016, the Tennessean reports. The U.S. Department of Justice has started sending notices of the trial to those victimized by the outbreak. Tennessee was one of the hardest hit states with 153 illnesses, including 16 deaths, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The trial will take place in Boston.

After butting heads with the Shelby County mayor over a number of policy issues recently and receiving “unsatisfactory answers from county attorney Ross Dyer,” the Shelby County Commission held a lengthy discussion about hiring its own legal counsel last week. That move would require a change to the county charter, however, something most commissioners were reluctant to tackle, the Commercial Appeal reports.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has ruled that Tennessee’s law governing which political parties get candidates on a ballot “imposes a greater burden” on third parties, and thus violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. The Green Party of Tennessee and Constitution Party of Tennessee filed the suit, the Tennessean reports.

Tom McFarland’s quest to become a judge took him to Knoxville last week where he appeared before the Tennessee Court of Appeals to argue why his lawsuit contesting the results of last year’s election for Ninth Judicial District Circuit Court judge should go forward, Roane County News reports (subscription required). McFarland lost to Mike Pemberton in the race for circuit court seat. He is suing Pemberton, the Roane County Election Commission and Tennessee Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins.

Two former Vanderbilt football players previously convicted of rape are due back in court tomorrow at 9 a.m., News Channel 5 reports. Brandon Vandenburg and Cory Batey were released from jail on June 24 after a mistrial was declared in the case. Davidson County District Attorney Glenn Funk said he fully anticipates the case will be re-tried.

Gov. Bill Haslam has appointed Bonnie Hommrich as the new commissioner for the Department of Children’s Services, the Tennessean reports. Hommrich has been serving as deputy commissioner for child programs at the department since 2004. She takes over for outgoing commissioner Jim Henry, who recently was named the governor’s new chief of staff.

University of Tennessee College of Law student Casey Duhart is one of only two recipients nationwide of a prestigious diversity scholarship, the school reports. The 2015 Law Student Diversity Scholarship from the Defense Research Institute (DRI) provides $10,000 toward law school expenses. Duhart will serve as the first black editor-in-chief of the Tennessee Law Review this coming year. She is also a recent graduate of the TBA's Diversity Leadership Institute.

Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery and 14 other state attorneys general are urging congressional leaders to protect the tax-exempt status of nonprofit religious organizations that disagree with the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent same-sex marriage decision. The group says that letter was prompted by comments from the solicitor general that the government might decide certain religious organizations no longer qualify as tax-exempt, and donations to them are no longer deductible. The letter asks Congress to modify the Internal Revenue Code to protect nonprofit religious organizations that disagree with the court’s decision.

The Tennessee Supreme Court today launched a new advisory commission to provide input on processes and procedures for its Business Court Pilot Project. Tennessee Court of Appeals Judge Neal McBrayer of Nashville will chair the group. Other members include Celeste H. Herbert of Knoxville; David A. Golden of Kingsport; Scott Carey, Pat Moskal, Bill Tate and Tim Warnock of Nashville; and Jef Feibelman and Charles Tuggle of Memphis. The court was created in March under Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Lyle.

The South Carolina State Senate voted 37-3 today to remove the Confederate flag from the capitol grounds. It is the second of three votes needed in the Senate before the bill goes to the state House. The final Senate vote is set for Tuesday, according to CNN. Observers suggest that the effort may face a tougher road in the House where powerful legislators, including Speaker Jay Lucas, have not yet said how they will vote.